Wednesday, May 23, 2007

The Castle, built around 1882 on Bunker Hill, was moved to Heritage Square in 1969 to be restored as part of the site’s collection of Victorian architecture. Unfortunately, the building was burned to the ground by arsonists on October 9, 1969, the same night as the Salt Box.

Here’s the cover to the 1964 book, Bunker Hill, Los Angeles, which features Politi's artwork of the once exclusive, upper-class area, painted during the Hill’s last, sad days (that’s the Castle in the upper left).

In the book, Politi writes that the Castle “was also called the Armour House, because it was believed to be built by the Armour meat packing people of Chicago in 1882. Daniel Francis Donegan, an early-day grading contractor, bought it in 1893.”

"The Castle" by Leo Politi

The book, originally published by Desert-Southwest, Inc., has long been out of print.

6 comments:

I wonder how these buildings compare to the old farms and churches in rural Pennsylvania during the summer and fall. I also am willing to bet you don't have Amish people in lovely Hollywood and it's surrounding boroughs...is that what you call them? Boroughs? Or is that just a NYC thing? Yea, it must be an NYC thing. Maybe I've been stuck in NYC too long. Anyways, weather looks gorgeous, pictures are very nice, and that guy sitting outside drawing looks like he has the best job ever.

Back in the day, when I was 18 years old, I wandered into the Salt Box and The Castle. They had been abandoned for years and remnants of hobo living were scattered within. With my "instamatic camera" I took photos, which remain in my scrapbook dated November 1968.